It’s only after surveying a close group of friends and then looking up the statistics for how many ROOT CANALS are performed in a year in the US – that’s around 30 Million, that I sucked it up and put this entry out there. So there you have it, my infliction in the recent past, I had to have a root canal. –  ’I'm finally getting over this self imposted stigmata so now let me share the Dlicious comfy dish I whipped up with ya all.

Not only did I have that constant dull throb from one of my bottom left molars which I couldn’t stop biting on to help dull the throb I felt slightly feverish, listless, and an overall dull malaise took me over -just short of my not being able to cook.  I call this ‘dish’ a savory tortilla style French toast which I made from the hind quarter of a beautiful loaf of Blue Ribbon Bakery Market rye bread, farm fresh eggs, yogurt milk & shaved sharp provolone.

I got 3 nice sized slices from the rye bread loaf, cut the tough edges off and cubed the bread. I mixed about a half a cup  of Whole Milk yogurt into 3 large scrambled eggs. I scalded about a cup of Half & Half and tempered that into the egg & yogurt mixture.  A good dash of Salt of D Earth. I put the cubed bread into the egg mixture mixed it occasionally over about a half hour so that the bread soaked up the egg, yogurt & milk mixture becoming very soft and soggy.  This is just what I wanted.

I got my non stick pan very hot with a bit of olive oil and one small pad of butter and slid the egg & now soaked bread mixture into the hot pan.  Just like making a tortilla the bottom of pan has to be very hot so the bottom comes together which takes a good 3-4 minutes.  Once the bottom seems to hold together, even though the top is still quite ‘wet’ if you will, put a plate that fits over the top of the pan, walk over to a sink and FLIP.  slide the wet die of the French Toast into the pan which should be very hot and Cook another 3 minutes or so, and slide your Unified savory French Toast onto the plate you flipped it onto once you’ve washed and dried it off.  I topped mine savory French toast with a thin slather of a grainy brown mustard and had a glass of organic tomato juice.

I have a wonderful recommendation for a endodontist – in Manhattan’s midtown east neighborhood. I went through the procedure like a champ I was told.

CanDied carrots over quinoa w/onions & garlic

What a perfect Passover meal #3 – Quinoa with sweated onions & garlic cloves topped with canD.ed carrots.

I had a large ziplock bag of cooked quinoa in the freezer from a catering ‘gig’ I worked on recently and I had 3 carrots, 1/2 an onion some grapefruit juice & honey around. Staples friends…

I added about 2 cups of the frozen quinoa to the sweating 1/2 a saute sliced onion and 3 roughly chopped garlic cloves in my small sauce pot.

I peeled and sliced the three carrots on an angle and steamed them for 20-30 minutes.

To make the glaze I melted about 3 Ts butter, added Salt of D Earth (the seasoned salt I make) added a splash of juice – I used grapefruit because that’s what I had. Most recipes call for the juice of one orange and it’s zest, I used honey and about a T of Turbinado sugar.  If I had used orange juice I doubt I would have used the sugar.  In less than 3 minutes I had a beautiful glaze. I spooned the perfectly steamed carrots into the sauce, molded the quinoa into an over sized cup, turned that over into a bowl, put the carrots around it and topped it w. the sauce and a few of the carrots.

Ginger which is a staple would certainly have been nice in this glaze & so would a pinch of cumin. I kept it really simple tonight.

Macnchz ingredients

MmmgoodMac n Cheese

It was a cold & purple grey day. My first errand was to bring a bag of clothes and other bits to the Salvation Army thrift store on 4th Avenue & 12th street, then book return & renewal at Ottendorfer library http://www.nypl.org/locations/ottendorfer.  The stupid thing is I set out on these errands on a pretty empty stomach.  Leaving the Salvation Army I went straight to East Village cheese as though being led by a magnetic force and fortunately its right in the middle of my path between the Salvation Army & the library.

Known for it’s rock bottom prices, East Village Cheese is definitely top on the list of my staples shopping dance card. It’s a perfect place to stock up on staples.  It’s important to be aware of expiration dates though.  I walked out with a half pound wedge of Five Counties Cheese; Layers of Britain’s best; Derby, Red Leicester, Cheshire, Double Gloucester & Cheddar cheeses, an 8 oz of container of mascapone which I’ve never splurged on before but at $1.79 for the container – I grabbed it. 1 pint of diced cheddar, 1 qt of whole milk Turkish yogurt 1 package of sliced Jarslberg and a chunk of triple cream brie all for just over $12. I usually get olives, jams, cookies and crackers here but I have all these in stock now.

Because I’m fanatic about using only organic, semolina duram wheat pasta, I buy it whenever I see it. Sometime ago, I can’t remember where but I picked up a bag of Chiocciole – pasta shells that look like large snails. With this mother load of cheese I couldn’t get home fast enough to whip up a batch of macaroni & cheese. Truth be told, if I could, I would eat macaroni & cheese 4 times a day every day, so with this said I maintain great restraint with myself but on a day like this I’m treating myself.

I recently read a food blog that declared Martha Stewart’s macaroni & cheese recipe the best. Even though I took a look at the recipe I immediately started making changes to the recipe so it would work for me. MS’s recipe calls for making croutons which will be toasted on top. I didn’t have the makings for this but I did have a few small packages of oyster crackers left over from…  so this is what I used. I crushed them in my over sized mortar and pestle, tossed them w/olive oil and Salt of D Earth. MS’s recipe yield is 12, mine yields 4. I made the recipe work for me and what I had at hand – 1 cup of milk vs her 51/2 cups of milk to 1 stick of butter and 1/2 C of flour.
Basically you stir various cheeses into a bechamel/white sauce, bring the pasta to a boil, mix together, bake and serve

I used:

oyster crackers for the topping
2 Ts butter and 1 T of olive oil
1 C milk – warmed
3 Ts of flour
Salt of D Earth
2Ts whole milk yogurt
2 Ts of mascarpone
1 C of shredded or cubed cheddar
1 C of the shredded 5 counties British cheddar

What I did:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

I made the oyster cracker crumb topping tossed with olive oil & Salt of D Earth top first

I made the whole dish in an oven proof pan. If you don’t have an oven proof pan you’ll have to prepare a casserole for baking.

Seasoned cheese sauce

Melt the butter and olive oil. You may also use all olive oil. When the butter bubbles whisk in the flour. Cook for about a minute. Slowly add the warm milk to the roux – the butter & flour mixture.

Remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt, pepper, Salt of D-Earth, nutmeg and cayenne pepper are often called for. Whisk in the various cheeses you choose to use and have available.

Cook about a 1/4 pound of pasta in boiling salted water until the pasta is al dente – slightly under cooked and drain. Rinse under cold water.

Stir the macaroni into the cheese sauce.

Macnchz ready for the oven

Sprinkle the cracker or whatever topping you choose along with any remaining cheese you may have. Bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes.

I advise letting the dish cool but if you can’t wait, be advised the dish is bubbling hot.

Serve this with a green salad, maybe a glass of wine and I think you’ll have yourself a really memorable ‘recipe 4 survival’.

I had about 4 left over scones from a tea party I helped cater in my freezer for way too long.

I’m not sure how I got on this bread pudding ‘jag’ – but I did.  Once I get on one of these ‘jags’ I start researching and comparing recipes to see what ingredients are called for and what I have on hand. I find Martha Stewarts’ recipes the best to work from I think because they’re well tested.

Here’s what I did to make what I call scone bread pudding : I mixed 6 eggs with an electric hand mixer*, 2 cups of milk – cold, right out of the container and a scant cup of (turbinado) sugar. *If you don’t have a hand mixer, a fork or whisk will certainly do.

Ms. Stewarts’ recipe calls for the zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange. I complied because I consider a lemon and an orange a basic staple I always keep around. Clearly you can make a bread pudding inspired Dssert w/out the juice of a lemon and an orange.  I added a shot or two of some brandy I had around since the winter holidays when I served a hot spiced tea.

I poured the egg, milk, sugar and juice mixture over the dried out crumpled blueberry scones.I’m not sure how much my 4 crumpled up scones weighed.  Ms. Stewart’s recipe calls for 9 oz. of day old French bread, w/the crust cut off. All I knew was that I wanted to make bread pudding out of these left over scones.

Another message Recipes 4 Survival hopes to share is, making a recipe your own. I have what I have and this is what I’ll work with. I stirred the scones and egg mixture for a good long time and let this sit with the hope that the scones would soak up as much of the egg mixture as possible.

After about a half hour I poured as much of the scones and egg mixture as I could fit into a small loaf pan and put the rest in a Pyrex baking dish. I prepared a bain de mare – which is nothing more than a water bath and popped both baking pans in to a 350 degree pre-heated oven.

30-35 minutes later the batch in the Pyrex baking dish was ready. The batch in loaf pan cooking in the bain de mare definitely took longer to cook – almost an hour and a half.

Of course I dug right in, topping a good sized slice w/a dollop of vanilla yogurt I mixed some beautiful honey into.

I love this dish but I love sharing it even more.

EnJOY!

FoodD

I made a Spanish Tortilla for breakfast thinking this would be perfect to bring but ended up eating half of it throughout the day once I learned my friend was already serving a potato dish. I gotta say,  I’m really perfecting the Spanish Tortilla each time I make one now. See entry below.

Sure I could bring a bottle of wine but I really wanted to bring something I made, good for casual eats, finger food buffet, easy to make and  transport, healthful,  Dlicious and fun.  I can’t say popcorn for an Oscar party is any surprise but mine was! I was happy to have our spicy, flavorful popcorn to talk about because that ceremony left quite a bit to Dsire.  I got more ooos and ahhs then Billy Crystal did. Maybe you’ll try making this:   Freshly popped corn in olive oil topped with Salt of D Earth, curry powder, golden raisins & dried cranberries I whipped up, spiced up, embellished and pour out into  a brown paper bag shook that up and was on my .

My recipe yields are for 1-2 people as they’re usually tests. Most recipes call for twice the ingredients I work with.

Spanish Tortilla

You’ll need:

A non-stick pan, potatoes, salt, oil, eggs, onion, aioli or mayo and paprika. I forgot to include the bottle of oil in this picture.

Most recipes call for 6-7 potatoes, any potato will do, russet, Idaho, Yukon, Bliss, to 5 eggs. I used about 1 pound of small, tri-colored roasting potatoes I had around, half an onion diced and 3 eggs.

The technique to how the potatoes are cut I think is key. Cut the potato in half, length-wise. With the flat side down on a cutting surface, slice across the top of the potato halves slices that are about 1/8” thick.  No normal person would slice potatoes the size I used and truth be told, regular white potatoes look nicer and are far easier to work with. The tri- colored potatoes look exciting in the photos.

The onion is diced.

There are a number of cooking techniques that make a Spanish tortilla all that it is and not just a potato omelet.

1.   The sliced potatoes and diced onions are salted.

2.   You cook the potatoes and onions in a good amount of oil.

3.   They are then added to hand beaten or whisked eggs.

4.   Mix the cooked potatoes, onions and egg mixture and pour this into the non-stick pan you cooked the potatoes, onions in.

A few recipes call for up to 2-3Cs of oil.  I used just enough oil to cover the potato, onion mixture when spread evenly over the bottom of the pans surface. Cook the potatoes, onions until they can be split with a fork or spoon.

I then added the cooked potatoes, onions and oil to the beaten eggs. I mixed this well then poured it back into the pan that I melted about 1 Tablespoon of goat butter on to.

A trick I learned is that the 1st minute of cooking time with the egg, potato, onion mixture must be very hot for the egg to not stick. It’s strange but no matter how much oil, and recipes call for only a thin coating of oil at this point the eggs should not stick. Then you can cook the tortilla over a medium high heat until you see the edges pull away from the side of the pan. The middle will still be runny but when you can lift a side up and get a spatula well under it, it’s time to do the ol flip-a-roo Don’t fear it. Place a dinner plate over the top of the pan, stand over the sink and flip.

Put the pan back on the stove, heat for 20-30 seconds and slide the tortilla back into the pan. Cook this for another 3-4 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit for about 2 minutes before flipping it back onto a serving plate.

It’s highly likely the tortilla will split on the first flip. Worry not this is not the ‘presentation side’ and and once the tortilla is back in the pan all mistakes seem to work themselves out.

The creme de la creme here is not the crema Catalana that I tried to make but the pimentón aioli. Fortunately it can be made quickly by adding paprika to good quality mayonnaise. I look forward to making the pimentón aioli from scratch. This is a true delicacy.

I had that all to familiar over ripe banana on my kitchen table for way too long. I started looking up banana bread recipes when I remembered a fabulous moist ‘tea loaf’ I had during the holidays when I began searching recipes for a banana tea loaf which I thought would be moister than your standard banana bread.  The recipe I chose to work with was English. The measurements were in metrics and from the git go I knew I didn’t have enough butter. The recipe called for 3 oz of butter which translates in my mind to 3 Tablespoons – of butter.  I had about two Tablespoons of butter – I added a tablespoon of oil.

You’re suppose to ‘cream the castor,(fine sugar) and butter ‘till fluffy. I only have an old hand mixer and used organic Turbinado sugar. Nothing looked fluffy or creamy about my sugar and butter when I added the two eggs which were meant to be beaten before adding them to the creamed butter and sugar. Next mash the bananas – which becomes a liquid to be added to the dry ingredients: 8 oz of flour a pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. sugar & butter, alternating between the liquid of creamed butter, sugar and the eggs and then the mashed bananas.

I had an aluminum loaf pan I didn’t even prep, meaning I didn’t butter or flour coat the inside. I simply poured the batter into the unprepared, virgin aluminum loaf pan.  I got that into a preheated 350 degree oven. – Wait – maybe the oven wasn’t preheated enough. Maybe that could effect the loaf’s density and moistness?  Oh right, I remembered I had walnuts in the -fridge and combed them them through the batter in the loaf pan.

As far as I’m concerned this loaf was almost a flop. I was disappointed with the texture, moistness,(or lack there of) and density but I don’t believe it’s because of the few adjustments I made. If it is – I’m livin’ with it & lov’n it actually thanks to the mighty TOASTER.

It’s a beautiful sunny winter Saturday.  I went to the Tompkins’ Square library to put a number of books on hold. I got hungry on the short walk over there and all I was envisioning was sitting down to a hot cappuccino & a good croissant. Luckily the perfect place isn’t between my place and the library – SMILE

I came home and whipped that banana walnut loaf out of the freezer.I cut two nice slab like slices w/a serrated knife and into the toaster they went.  

Toasting is a prescription I can see getting addicted to.

I liberally spread good organic peanut butter onto the two toasted banana walnut loaf slices and topped each with a tablespoon of East Hampton beach plum jam – a delicacy item I cherish and savor and a steaming cup of Yogi Black Chai tea.

As I sat down and dug into my toasted banana walnut loaf slice, PB & J and took a good long sip of that tea I had a laugh as I heard the voice of  an old mate/friend  in my head saying, “PB & J on toast, that’s the “Breakfast of Champions”. I must say I’m feel’n like a Hero as I sit here perfectly satiated, happily writing this piece.

If the title and the main ingredient product shot hasn’t intimidated or scared you away, you’re a special one and we’ll be rockin on. I’m thrilled to share a fabulous dish that takes minutes to cook and costs less than $3 per serving.

Hiroko, the woman I work with, told me she made her daughter’s favorite dish the other night because she won a Naginata championship. Katie is a champion in various Japanese marshal arts but Naginata is her absolute passion.

“So what’s Katie’s favorite dish” “Karashi Mentaiko, it’s spicy codfish roe in a cream sauce over angel hair pasta.” Now I did a full body spin around and said, “Wait, I love that dish. I order something like that at Typhoon, the hugely popular Japanese lounge in the E. Village.

Hiroko tells me the dish is so easy to make and it takes no time at all.  Inspired by her instructions and her daughter’s taste buds I was determined to make the dish myself. Later that afternoon I joined Hiroko on her weekly grocery-shopping trip to Sunrise Mart, the Japanese specialty Mart in the E.Village, so she could show me exactly which codfish roe to use. It’s called Karashi-mentaiko in Japanese.  For English-speaking-me: spicy Pollock roe. I paid $7.50 for a package with 2 large pieces/sacs of the Karashi-Mentaiko.

I was tripped up by one of the ingredients Hiroko used because I don’t typically cook with cream or milk for that matter. Then I thought to myself, I have fabulous whole milk yogurt from Trader Joes, I’m gonna try and make it with that.

If it weren’t for the somewhat tedious exercise of scraping the roe out of the very thin membrane sacks the roe is in

removing karashi from membrane sacks

and the 9-10 minutes it takes to cook dried spaghetti or 3-4 minutes for angel hair, this dish would honestly take no more than 5-6 minutes to prepare. A new SpecialD for sure.

WHAT YOU’LL USE

1/4# – Angel hair or spaghetti – Use organic pasta that is made from semolina, whole durum wheat. I suggest no longer using enriched pasta.

2 sacks of spicy Pollack roe, (Karashi mentaiko or non spicy is called tarako)

2 T butter or olive oil

2 t Tamari or soy sauce – optional

2 T – cream or whole milk yogurt

For Garnish:

Dried nori cut into thin strips, scallion slices, chiffonade shisho leaf, an edible leaf in the basil & mint family, alfalfa or radish sprouts

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

Bring 5-6 quarts of salted water to a rolling boil.

While the water is coming to a boil, slit the roe sac length wise and scoop the roe out with a spoon onto a plate. Discard the membrane.

In a saucepan over a medium heat, add the olive oil or melt the butter, add the soy. Turn off the heat and mix in the roe and whisk to break up any clumping of the roe.

This is where I substituted the yogurt for cream. I used about 2 heaping Tablespoons and whisked everything together, making a lovely sauce.

At about this time the water should have come to a rolling boil. Add the desired amount of pasta and cook until your desired tenderness. If you’re using angel hair 3 minutes is perfect. If you’re using standard spaghetti, 9 – 10 minutes. Reserve at least 1/2 C of the cooking liquid. drain the pasta and add it to the pan of codfish roe sauce immediately – still dripping from the cooking liquid is fine .  Stir in the sauce pan to coat the pasta well.

Place in bowls and garnish with any of the suggested toppings or anything you may choose or have around.

Enjoy. It’s Dlicious, it’s Dlightful, its Delctable.

About a dozen or so EZ-UP, pop-up tents, manned by local vendors and food artisans offered up various delicacies from smoked turkey or brisket sandwiches, brick oven grilled pizza, all organic – kale, sweet potato & chic pea style soups and coleslaw to local wines, squashes, and Sylvester Manor eggs, husk tomatoes, breads, flower wreaths and cutting boards. The tents lined one edge of the farm’s ‘center field’ where a small stage was platform to a number of folk acts that played the last few hours of the weekend’s festivities.

My friend’s blanket was laid out just to the right of the EZ-UP tent where the ‘sound board’ was in the center of the ‘center field’.  As we were finishing lemonades and kettle chips and getting into our sweatshirts as the warm sun set for the day another friend showed up w/a brown paper bag half full of husk tomatoes, grown on The Sylvester Manor farm. No sooner had he sat down when I had one of these yellow marble sized morsels pinched from it’s husk in my mouth. OOoos, ahas and yums drifted and filled our space as hands of adults and kids dove into that bag with little restraint.

Husk Tomatoes or Ground Cherries look like a mini heirloom tomatoes but taste like a cherry and tomato mixed into one bite. Pretty Dlectable if you ask me. Immediately I thought to myself, “this would make one killer tomato jam.” One of my all time favorite delicacies.

Concerned that the two pint baskets I got would yield very little I thought adding my next favorite delicacy, Peppadews, would bulk up the yield while also adding so much to the flavor and body of the jam on a whole.

After photographing these most gorgeous and interesting husk tomatoes or ground cherries I got that sauce pot out.

What I used:

2-3 T of olive oil – enough to coat the bottom of a pot with a thin coat of oil.

1T of red pepper flakes and 1 T mustard seeds

2-3 good sized garlic dents – minced & sliced

2 baskets of Husk Tomatoes - husked & washed – some cut in half

6-8 Peppadews – sliced and 1/4 C of their liquid

1/2″ ginger root - finely grated

2T tomato paste, 1-2 T sugar and or maple syrup.

What to do:

Add the red pepper flakes, mustard seeds, garlic and ginger to the olive oil heating over a medium to low heat to infuse the oil with these savory flavors. Then I added the washed husk tomatoes and the sliced Peppadews and their liquid. Stir well, lower the heat.

When I tasted the mixture at this point it was really hot, spicy hot, so to take it down a bit I added the juice of a small wedge of lime, about 2T of sugar and a good swirl of Maple syrup.  I also added some freshly ground nutmeg*

Nutmeg is hardly a staple ingredient but I keep it around because a sangha member who’s authored a book on natural healing mentioned my using nutmeg when he noticed I was trying to suppress my cough during a dharma teaching. I also store my mini grater in the bottle I keep the nutmeg in and thought of it when I looked for it to add the ginger – which I think is a must ingredient for this recipe.

This Husk Tomato/Ground Cherry Jam is fabulous as a topping on baked potatoes, scrambled eggs, on buttered toast of any kind, and any protein.

So lets look at what non perishable foods to keep around. The first item that leaps to my mind is GRANOLA.  I’m also totally into this new food item I just came across called GLAD CORN. It’s over sized half popped corn kernels, all organic of course. Dried fruits and nuts, especially almonds are great to have around. I have two packages of Kame rice crackers and a tin or two of fine fish, sardines in olive oil or mackerel. Certainly beans & grains are important to keep around. Quinoa is my favorite due to it having zero salt and fats while being very high in protein.

I’m gearing up to shoot a Recipe$ 4 $urvival episode during the hurricane.  The dish I’m  going to make is far from seasonal but it will be OH SO GOOD.  I’m going to make sugar plum grape tomato and vidalia onion RISOTTO.  Stay tuned.

Here’s to cooking up a storm.

X OMe, FoodD